By Clara Monahan
Sitting in a chair - corner of my eye,
Gently sits an old gray girl.
I turn around
And she's a bag.
Walk through the front door,
Ready for a hug,
But the air
Is still.
Go into the laundry room,
Sitting on the freezer,
Is a pair of bowls
Cold and dry.
Everywhere I look
You left little clues,
Tricking me into thinking
They could lead to you.
The harder I look the less I find,
And the more I try to forget
The more memories rewind.
Your smell,
Your nose,
Your deep brown eyes,
Your tail always wagging,
Even though you were tired.
So tired.
Old girl, you loved me
And I loved you.
It breaks my heart
He did this to you.
So live on in my heart
And sweeten my mind,
Though I can't be with you,
Your memories I'll find.
By Keegan Imami
I want to see you smile again
like diamonds in the dust,
Jump off the end
into a clear lake,
whom the small waves
tease,
Fantasize with
Dragonflies,
A trace of misty morning,
the promise of tomorrow in her eyes,
I remember your bones
in flesh
and best
in that sunny red dress
and those bright white shoes—
I’ve sought out the light
you left on the dock,
but your eyes were elsewhere
and you’ve since
blown the lantern out—
I should have kissed you then
in that sunny red dress
and those bright white shoes,
sipping the moonlight from your lips
and wedding my unutterable visions
to your perishable breath,
Long after the last sunshine fell
romantically upon her glowing face,
and as it faded, deserting her
with lingering regret,
like children
leaving a pleasant street
at dusk.
Forever here still,
knowing not if I should
stay to watch the sunset
or lay down to sleep.
By Robert Marshall
When you slid out the back door
This morning, I payed you no mind;
As the afternoon hour approaches four
I am pacing, lacing up my shoes to find
You, wondering what makes you wander
From this place where needs are met
Reliably; you who have no means to ponder
How much richer, sweeter life could get;
You who think only food and water if I
Believe what I am told of your nature.
Still, some spirit’s voice must call you nigh
If you step out into the wild, defying hunger:
Then I remember, Mystery is undomesticatable;
All of this supposed reason, incommunicable.
By Sophia Taylor
Constantly stumbling over rock and rubble
Mountain peaks splinter and crumble.
The hikers' boots lose their grip on a familiar path.
Mother Nature appeases with wrath.
Their heart leaps into the head, the ears, the throat
And somehow sinks to the knees, the ankles, the feet, the toes.
All in all a complete whirlwind.
But only a few words appear on the screen
With simple spellings, and simple meanings.
Put together it's something greedy.
Begging for scraps while someone is bleeding.
Longing for bandages to heal a festering wound.
Waiting for something to bloom.
Out of the damage and blood and the lies,
Out of the heartache and heartbreak and cries
A petal appears without the faintest clue,
Of who we are
We're we've been
And what we do.
By Sophia Taylor
There's nothing more beautiful than
Raindrops on wilted leaves,
Sunlight to worn, swollen eyes,
Water in a glass,
Food on a table.
There's nothing more beautiful than
Words on a page,
Thoughts being spoken,
Raw emotions.
There's nothing more beautiful than
A single note in an orchestra,
An ant standing alone,
A breath taken,
And a life shaken.
I never thought I’d break this badly
For something I never had
That I’d trace the cold fingers of despair
Tattooed ‘cross my weather-beaten chest
That the gentle waves I thought I’d ride
Would be the breakers of a storm
The soft beams of moonlight
Only mourners for the dawn
I never thought I’d blaze the darkened trail
That brings the greatest to their knees
The liveliest to their graves
Leaves the strongest torn
But ‘till I see the sun again
Feel its warmth caress my shadowed face
I’ll keep traveling down the forsaken road
That some men dare call loneliness
